A landlord in California has paid it forward with an act of Christmas kindness that has gone viral across the Internet.

His tenants love him, but most importantly to him, his 20-year-old daughter loves him for what he did last week.

Joel Berlinsky, a 61-year-old real estate investor and landlord from Los Angeles, told the Toronto Star that he was moved to tears when his daughter wrote a beautiful message on Facebook following his Christmas gesture which went viral last week.

“It was a nice side benefit,” he said.

The landlord, who owns about 120 apartment units in Los Angeles, announced that he is giving his tenants a $70 rent break for Christmas — a gesture that will cost him more than $8,000.

“I’m surprised at this whole thing,” Berlinsky said, adding that he started doing this about 15 years ago to help single women with children in his units.

“I thought they could buy a gift for their kids and that’s how it started,” Berlinsky said. “I know several guys who are landlords and the comments from several of them are that, ‘you’ve raised the bar for us, Joel.’”

Berlinsky’s act went viral when a tenant posted a photo on Reddit showing how Berlinsky was advising tenants to knock $70 off their rent cheques for December so they could buy a gift for someone special.

When Mike Olejarczyk posted this on Reddit, the act of kindness took on a life of its own.

Olejarczyk, using the Reddit screen name “mikeoley,” posted a photo of the notice on the popular online forum Thursday with the heading “Good guy landlord.”